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Partners President & CEO named Most Powerful Physician Executive in U.S.

Dr. James J. Mongan, president and CEO of Partners HealthCare, has been named the Most Powerful Physician Executive in Healthcare by Modern Physician, the sister publication of Modern Healthcare, the national health care newsweekly. 

Dr. Mongan was cited for his work in helping to advance health care reform in Massachusetts as well as his efforts to improve the U.S. health care system and expand coverage for the uninsured.  Dr. Mongan serves as chairman of the Commonwealth Fund’s Commission on a High Performance Health System, which has issued a number of reports over the past few years on the U.S. health care system and the need to improve access, quality, safety and efficiency.

In an interview with Modern Healthcare, Dr. Mongan noted that while the Massachusetts health care reform law is still a work in progress, “The glass is more than half-full.  We have added 300,000 people who didn’t have coverage, but we have more people to cover.”

Commenting on Dr. Mongan’s selection, Dr. Mark Chassin, president of the Joint Commission, said Dr. Mongan has a positive reputation nationally for his efforts to improve quality and reform the health care system.  “We have met over the years, and he has a sterling reputation, is a very effective leader, and is a very vocal advocate for his organization,” Dr. Chassin told Modern Healthcare.

Of the top 50 physician executives on the list this year are 25 hospital or health system executives, seven government officials, four representatives of professional medical organizations, and 14 physician executives who represent consumers, businesses, medical schools or other professional organizations.

The top 10 are as follows:

1. James J. Mongan, MD, President and CEO, Partners HealthCare
2. Donald Berwick, MD, President, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
3. Mark Chassin, MD, President, Joint Commission
4. Stephen Newman, MD, Chief Operating Officer, Tenet Healthcare Corp.
5. Dexanne Clohan, MD, Chief Medical Officer, HealthSouth Corp.
6. Denis Cortese, MD, President and CEO, Mayo Clinic
7. Patrick Quinlan, MD, Ochsner Health System
8. Nick Turkal, MD, President and CEO, Aurora Health Care
9. James Peake, MD, Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
10. Robert Wah, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Computer Sciences Corp.

Prior to being appointed president and CEO of Partners in 2003, Dr. Mongan was president for seven years of Massachusetts General Hospital.  He also served for five years as executive director of the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, a large public hospital, and dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine.

Beginning in 1970, Dr. Mongan spent 11 years in Washington, first as staff to the Senate Finance Committee working on Medicare and Medicaid legislation, and later in the Carter administration as deputy assistant secretary for health and associate director of the domestic policy staff in the Carter White House.

Dr. Mongan is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.  He has served on the boards of the American Hospital Association and the Kaiser Family Foundation, and was a member of both the Medicare Prospective Payment Assessment Commission established by Congress and the Institute of Medicine’s Commission on the Consequences of Uninsurance.

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